← Max Politics
Max Politics
Claire Valdez on Her Bid for Congress in NY-7
01:05:36
Claire Valdez, a Democratic candidate for Congres…
Loading summary
Transcript67 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Hello and welcome to Max Politics. This is Ben Max coming to you from New York Law School and its center for New York City and State Law. Thanks for tuning in. It's Friday, February 20, 2026. My guest on the show today is Claire Valdez, a New York State assembly member and one of three Democratic candidates running in this year's primary election slated for June, just a few months away, in the 7th congressional district of New York, a hotly contested, much watched race to succeed the retiring longtime member of Congress, Nydia Velasquez. In a district that includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens. All of New York's 26 and the country's 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are on the ballot this year, with control of the House, where Republicans currently have a slim majority to be decided in the fall general election. This 7th congressional district of New York is heavily Democratic, very progressive and virtually certain to be represented by a Democrat in Congress. But this primary race will help decide who and what kind of Democrat heads to Washington and represents the district after Congresswoman Velasquez's multi decade tenure comes to a close at the end of this year. Along with Assemblymember Valdez of Queens, my guest today, the other two candidates in the running are Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Queens City Council Member Julie Juan. I had Reynoso here on the podcast recently so you can find that conversation if you missed it and Juan will join me in the coming weeks. The 7th Congressional District is one of the state's 26 seats in the House of Representatives and it includes parts of Western Queens and Western Brooklyn, Southern Queens and North Brooklyn, and the neighborhoods include parts or all of Long Island City, Sunnyside, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale and Woodhaven in Queens and in Brooklyn. Parts are all of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick, Cypress Hills, East New York, Clinton Hill and Fort Green. Like all of New York's House districts, the 7th's overall population is more than 750,000 constituents and this district is roughly 37% white, 36% Latino, 14% Asian and 10% black. The district population is roughly 60% in Brooklyn and 40% in Queens. My guest, Claire Valdez represents the 37th district in the State assembly, which overlaps significantly with the Queen's portion of this Congressional district. She's a former union organization Izer who was first elected to the state assembly in 2024, taking office a little over a year ago at the beginning of 2025. She's one of New York City Democratic Socialists of America's Socialist in office group, part of DSA and supported by DSA for this Congressional race. She also has an endorsement from Mayor Zoram Hamdani, who was of course boosted by New York City DSA in his mayoral race. Council member Juan, by the way, represents parts of the Queens district as well, and I'll get into more of that with her when I speak with her here on the podcast. And of course Reynoso represents all of the Brooklyn side of the district as the Borough President. Keep in mind there's no ranked choice voting in this primary as is not a city level seat. For context on the politics of the district, couple numbers within the district's borders from the 2025 mayoral race. In the June 2025 primary after the ranked choice tally was done, Mamdani won 76% of the vote in this district compared to 24% for Andrew Cuomo. And in the general election, which adds in independents and Republicans and other Democrats who may not vote in a primary, Mamdani still got 68% of the vote in this district to Cuomo's 26%. So again, a very progressive district, home to a lot of the voting base of the New York City dsa, the organization that helped launch Mamdani and Valdez and is now backing her in this race and supports other Democratic Socialists who represent some of the districts that overlap with or neighbor this Congressional district in the city and state legislatures. Mamdani got support in the mayoral primary from the retiring Congressman Velasquez, but the two have split in this race to succeed her in Congress as Congresswoman, Velasquez is backing Reynoso, who's a longtime ally and protege of hers. And in terms of a few but not all of the other endorsements in the early months of this race, Reynoso has also been backed by Public Advocate Jumani Williams, Queensborough President Donovan Richards, about a half a dozen City Council members who represent parts of the Congressional district. He's got some labor unions and advocacy groups like the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the political arms of make the Road New York and Churches United for Fair Housing and New York Communities for Change. For Valdez, there's the huge endorsement from Mamdani as well as New York City dsa. Mamdani and the DSA campaign apparatus are already helping her with their trademark ground game and knocking doors and so forth. She also has endorsements from the United Auto Workers Region nine, which is her former union as you'll hear us talk about, and some other advocacy groups and campaign groups like Justice Democrats and Jewish Voice for Peace Action. So that's a snapshot of where things stand here on February 20th. My conversation recorded February 19th with Claire Valdez in just a moment. Very briefly. If you missed any recent episodes of the show, find them all here in the Max Politics podcast feed. A couple quick highlights Speaking of much watched congressional primaries, I had good in depth conversations with each of the two Democrats running in the 10th congressional district primary. That's lower Manhattan and a big different stretch of Brooklyn, current Congressional Representative Dan Goldman and his primary challenger, former City Comptroller Brad Lander. You can find both those conversations in the feedback I mentioned. I recently spoke with Antonio Reynoso about his 7th District congressional campaign, and my most recent conversation here on the podcast was with New York City Comptroller Mark Levine discussing the city's economic and fiscal picture, Mayor Mamdani's first budget plan, his $127 billion preliminary budget, which was released on February 17, and other issues related to the city's budget and fiscal picture. Really good conversation there with Comptroller Mark Levine, but that's for after you listen to this one. All right. I'm very pleased to welcome to MAX Politics Claire Valdez, a New York State assembly member from Queens, a Democratic socialist and a candidate for New York's 7th congressional district in the primary set for June. We're roughly four months to primary day here, people, so get ready to vote. Primary day is June 23rd and there will of course be early voting and mail in voting before that, so not too far off. Assemblymember Valdez, thanks for joining me. How are you?
- [06:54]
B
I'm doing very well. How's it going out there?
- [06:58]
A
It's going okay here. Not too bad. Way too much happening at all times, of course, but also good to be busy when you're in this line of work. So introduce yourself a little, if you will. You didn't get to hear my intro, but I gave a little bit of your background. But you've been a labor organizer, a DSA activist, but you're relatively new to government and elected office. You've been in the assembly for just over a year. But say a little bit about your background and how you got into politics, if you would.
- [07:29]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So my name is Claire Valdez. I am currently a State assembly member representing the 37th district in Queens. That is Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Masspath and Ridgewood, which is where I am calling in from today. I'm from Texas originally. I came to the city about 10 years ago for work seeking A better life like so many others, and have a long history of working in low wage customer service jobs, the kind of work that a lot of working class people end up in. I joined my union, UAW Local 2110, in 2018, and that was really my first introduction to union life, to what is possible when we organize together. I got super involved with my union. I was a bargaining committee member, unit chair of my shop. So I got to stand alongside my co workers and grievances and disciplinary meetings, arbitrations. And it's a really profound experience to be able to stand with your coworkers against a bad boss. Mine happened to be Columbia University, a very powerful institution, but we fought for better wages and working conditions and to make sure that our union rights were protected. That was kind of my introduction to politics, though. I got organized. I joined the Democratic Socialists of America, which you just mentioned, and in dsa I was in chapter leadership and ran a bunch of different campaigns. I'm sure we'll come back to that at some point, but have only been in the assembly for a little over a year, but have been doing a lot of work alongside many different coalition partners to tax the rich and win universal childcare, to fight for our immigrant neighbors and much, much more. And I'm excited to be running for Congress now. New York 7 is a very progressive district. I represent about 20% of it right now. And I think it's a district that's very primed for the kind of politics that I represent. And we need more union organizers in Congress.
- [09:25]
A
All right, well, we'll dig in on a little more of that, but appreciate that overview. What kind of work are you doing when you joined UAW and began organizing, you mentioned at Columbia, but what kind of work?
- [09:37]
B
Yeah, so I was a member of UAW Local 2110, which is the professional or the clerical workers staff. So it is made up of 500 workers, mostly women of color, who work in various offices as office assistants and as call center workers, as cashiers who work in the print shop. It's a wide range of positions, but these are some of the most low weight and invisible workers on campus who absolutely make the campus run. So I worked in the visual arts program in Dodge hall for those who know. And that was my introduction, like I said, to the union. It was my first time being a union member. And I remember the first time that I went to a union meeting and sitting with 200, 300 of my coworkers to talk about what our contract could contain and what we were ready to fight for. And that was a really revelatory experience, and I think more workers should be able to have it.
- [10:36]
A
I want to come back to that in a second, but you mentioned growing up in Texas, being in the city for 10 years. It makes me wonder what your reaction is when you hear this got especially heightened, of course, in the mayoral race. But you hear it around the city, not just in election time, all sorts of time. People sort of badmouthing transplants and especially calling DSA a bunch of young transplants and so forth. How do you respond to that, that type of critique, that type of, I don't know, derogatory use of a term about people who've come to New York and having grown up here?
- [11:18]
B
I came to New York because I wanted a better life. I was pursuing a job in the arts. I worked at a really small museum in Long Island City, and that's why I came here for work. So many people do, no matter if they're coming from Texas or from other countries. We're seeking a better life. And I'm a tenant. I'm a commuter. I am a worker. I share the same experiences as my neighbors who down the block in Ridgewood whose great, great grandparents came here and built their homes and now occupy multigenerational buildings. Our struggles are the same. This is a very unaffordable city. It's becoming more so as every day. And we need to fight alongside each other to take on venture capital and private equity and corporate landlords, Con Ed and all the other forces that make our lives much more expensive. And so we have common enemies. And I think we're really strong when we organize together. That's what the labor movement has taught me. And we have much more in common than separates us.
- [12:25]
A
State of labor organizing New York is regularly cited as one of, if not the best place for unions and for labor organizing and for the power of unions and the political power of unions especially. I mean, you know, I've been doing journalism work on New York politics and government for a while now and have absolutely seen the very strong impact that labor unions have on policymaking and politics in New York. How do you assess it in terms of the strength in New York? And then obviously part of your campaign here is about stronger labor organizing nationally. But how do you sort of assess it in New York? Do you agree with a general sentiment that labor unions are pretty darn strong in New York and have a lot of sway in politics and policy? And perhaps, you know, in your view, that's. That's good to have a Lot of that sway. But how do you assess it in New York? And then if you want to connect that to the national picture.
- [13:25]
B
Yeah, you know, New York is a union town. We love to say it. And it's true. We have really high union density in New York compared to other parts of the country, which is a good thing. A lot of that is public sector unions. We're very proud to have lots of workers who make the city run, who are represented by unions. And the private sector needs to grow. I come out of the private sector union. We need more workers across the board to join unions and to organize. We're relatively strong in New York City, but as you mentioned, across the country union density is quite low. There's still right to work laws across the country. Country captive audience meetings are prevalent. And even in New York City, workers are going up against some of the most powerful industries and bosses in the entire world. Amazon DPK4 is a facility in Masspat that I currently represent. Those workers are going up against Amazon and we're on a picket or a limited time strike at the end of last year, end of 2024, it's 2026 now. End of 2024, we're on a strike. And you know, Amazon opened the fire hoses on them, flooded their picket line, froze them while they were marching in and picketing in masspath. So even in New York City, you know, we saw the Starbucks workers on strike for a number of weeks at the end of last year as well. The struggle remains to take on some of the most powerful interests and corporate interests in the world, even in New York City. And I think I've always seen my role as a legislator as being how do we make the terrain as fertile as possible for new organizing? How do we stand with workers who are up against incredible odds and make sure they know that we have their backs? That goes for New York City. It goes for across the country where labor organizing is very difficult. I'll say a recent victory within my own union of UAW is the organization of the Volkswagen plant down in Chattanooga. Organizing in the south has to continue. And if we can make federal labor policy such that it is easier to do that, that's exactly what we want to do.
- [15:46]
A
Speaking of Amazon and speaking of Queens and speaking of all of this, there was a debate, as you probably are aware of, and forgive me if you were invol involved in any of this in any way, but about Amazon and the HQ2 proposals and agreement that came to and then they wound up backing out of because there was so much pushback in New York around this and this idea of a massive campus in Queens. And there was a debate actually, and unions were kind of split on this. And one of the views from both union leaders for some unions that supported the project and others, was that if you want to have a chance to influence Amazon's labor practices, if you want to unionize Amazon workers, what better place to sort of welcome Amazon's growth into than New York and try to influence them right here in this very strong labor town, as opposed to saying, take your business elsewhere and then they'll go, you know, set up shop in states that are potentially less friendly. I don't want to get into a whole re litigation of the Amazon HQ2 deal. But on that issue, any thoughts on sort of that debate? Because it wasn't a clear cut labor versus non labor thing. There were labor unions on both sides of the equation.
- [17:06]
B
Yeah. And that speaks to the diversity of opinions from the labor movement on how to strategize and how to tactically approach some of these issues. What I'll say is that right now it's not just DBK4, but it's a facility and set Staten island and STBK1 in Woodside, where workers are organizing against Amazon and like I said, really taking on some of the worst, worst employers, really in the globe who have made massive profits off of treating their workers as independent contractors rather than full employees skimming on benefits and worker protections. And these workers are incredibly brave. Some of them have been terminated for organizing flagrant violations of the law. And I and many of my colleagues have been standing alongside them, you know, on the legislative end and, you know, walking many, many picket lines to support them in this fight. It's incredibly important that we take on that corporate power and corporate greed.
- [18:02]
A
I know there's a difference between jobs that already exist and jobs that were sort of promised or theoretical. But I assume in these cases we're talking about, you'd rather Amazon come around to recognize, you know, collective bargaining and so forth, than then close up shop and leave. Right.
- [18:19]
B
I think worker power is the thing that's going to get Amazon to move. You know, we can give them tax incentives and try to play nice, but Amazon's not, not demonstrated any willingness to, to play nice with their workers. And I think sometimes this is just a matter of worker power winning the day. And so, you know, the organizing drive continues here at the facilities that exist and any others that will come along.
- [18:49]
A
I want to ask you some more specific questions, but in Terms of, again, people sort of getting to know you. Do you have any political heroes that you would name any role models in politics? Not people that have endorsed your campaign, please. But you know people, you know people who you've admired over time who you know are sort of role models to you in politics.
- [19:13]
B
I think the most obvious answer for me is Bernie Sanders. He's absolutely one of the politicians that I think spoke to me and spoke to so to millions of Americans so directly. I'll share an anecdote that I was able to share with him, actually, that in 2017, my aunt who lives in Texas almost died because she didn't have health care, she didn't have health insurance. And what should have been a temporary sickness escalated. She had to be medevaced to a hospital to receive care. Thank God she survived and made a full recovery, but was saddled with $70,000 of medical debt just for the medevac. Thousands and thousands of dollars from the hospital stays. And this is a working class person who didn't even have health insurance. How on earth can she be forced to pay this medical debt that saved her life? And how can we live in a society where preventative care is out of reach for so many people? And I think Bernie Sanders talking about what a kind of daily catastrophe this is that faces so many Americans and speaking with real clarity about the need for Medicare for all to take out private insurers that profit off of our need to stay healthy and live long lives was really inspiring. I got one of my first kind of campaigns in New York City, usa, was knocking doors in Brooklyn for Bernie. I ended up going to New Hampshire to knock doors. I wore in my snow boots for the first time. Knocking doors for Bernie. And I think he has been such a guiding light in his kind of clarity and consistency. And watching him do these fighting the oligarch tours around the country and bringing out thousands and thousands of Americans in deep red states and blue states. People who feel like they are being spoken to and understood for the first time is really powerful. And I think that's exactly the kind of work that we need to see politicians doing all over the country. So Bernie is always my north star and really one of my inspirations for getting involved in politics in the first place.
- [21:29]
A
So you described a little bit about the district when you said you're excited to be running for Congress now and talked about representing, as you said, 20% of it, that it's a very progressive district. You know, connecting your experience as a tenant, a commuter and a worker to the experience of New Yorkers and I'm sure, you know, constituents in this district, for someone unfamiliar, how do you, in a, you know, two minutes, capture this district and you know, what sort of the top issues and concerns of its residents and voters are right now?
- [22:04]
B
Yeah, it's. It's a very diverse district. We have a huge, you know, Latino community, know, from all over, from all over Latin America really, but, you know, Dominican, Mexican, obviously an enormous Puerto Rican community as well. It's. We have, you know, growing Nepali communities in Ridgewood and Sunnyside. A very big, like, immigrant community. It's diverse in terms of the industries that reside within it, the kind of housing that exists within it, even within my own district, looking at Long island city versus versus Ridgewood, massive differences in housing density and the kind of housing stock that's available. We, I'll say again, incredibly progressive district on the whole, but pockets of more conservative voters, certainly in Ridgewood and Glendale, parts of Williamsburg. And it's a young district. I think the average age is about 34 years old and a primarily tenant district. It's 77% tenants. And those tenants live in market rate apartments. They live in NYCHA complexes, rent stabilized housing stock all over the district. And so it paints a picture of a really diverse and vibrant community. And so it should be no surprise to say that some of the issues are certainly around housing and the need for affordable housing, the need for protections for immigrant neighbors, and just the same kind of affordability concerns that face the entire city. People are struggling with their utility costs, they're struggling with childcare costs, with having to pay a solid $3 for the MTA. Now there are certainly affordability concerns throughout the district and I think people are struggling to get by and they're seeking lives of dignity. And like, like me, like many of my neighbors, we came here to live full, full and dignified lives and, and can struggle to find that dignity.
- [24:16]
A
Now. As a DSA member and a progressive, where are you on this evolving conversation around a key part of the housing affordability solution being the importance of building a lot more housing of various types of. Mayor Mamdani has really embraced this view. He certainly wants to build and subsidize a lot of affordable housing for people at lower income levels. But he's really embraced the idea that to solve affordable housing, you really need a lot more housing of various kinds, in part to be able to welcome people of all types of backgrounds and incomes and so forth into the city. He said at a press conference the day before we're speaking Here that there's a new consensus in this city about the importance of building more housing. Where do you stand on that and how do you think about housing development and growth in the city and especially in this district?
- [25:12]
B
Absolutely. So I tend to agree that we need more housing. I think the question is always what kind of housing and who is going to profit off of that housing. I've been really excited to work alongside my colleague Emily Gallagher on the Social Housing Development Authority bill that she carries in the New York State Assembly. And there is a sister version of it at the federal level carried by Representative Ocasio Cortez called the Holmes act that would do a number of things including funding public housing and repealing the Faircloth Amendment and really empowering the state to build social housing. And to those unfamiliar with the term, it's housing that's permanently affordable, that's democratically managed, and that I think offers a kind of alternative to the traditional version of how do we build more housing? By, you know, and the answer has traditionally been providing tax incentives to developers. This is a way for the state to really take an active interest and investment in making sure that housing is permanently affordable and available to a wide swath of people. I was lucky to join a delegation to Barcelona a couple years ago to see their public housing or their social housing in Barcelona. And it, it's possible for this to be really beautiful and abundant housing that people can afford, that people of all backgrounds can afford. And I think this is a model that we need to be looking toward as we think about, yes, we need more units of housing. Yes, there is a real housing crisis and rents are unaffordable. This is a model, I think, that offers a vision for what role the state has in providing housing for its residents.
- [27:01]
A
How do you do something like that and not run into the problems we've seen in nycha where investment divestment, you know, winds up revolving a lot around who's in power. You know, obviously budgets can outlive certain elected officials or certain elected officials can outlive budgets. You know, how do you do this type of thing and make things permanently affordable when they're not coinciding with, you know, sort of market rate tenants and apartments and rents that can subsidize those. How do you make sure there's a long term strategy for keeping those solvent and funded and in a state of good repair?
- [27:41]
B
Yeah, and it will take obviously intervention from the state to make sure that these stay, these stay solvent. And these models should exist alongside other forms of housing that have already been successful. So I think there needs to be definitely a mixed approach. But I think we can see success in models of social housing that have kind of revolving funds that tenants pay their rent into the buildings themselves. And these things can be sustainable with moderate state intervention. I think it's really exciting to think about this different version of what housing can look like. I should say, too, that at least at the state level, the Social Housing Development Authority also includes the ability of assisting tenants who want to buy their apartment from their landlord to be able to stay in it long term. So we don't have people losing out in their homes when apartments get sold to new owners and rents get jacked up. So I think there's a few different ways to approach the same question, but I think it's something that has been proven to be successful in other countries and in various versions here in the United States, and. And something we should be exploring.
- [28:56]
A
We talked, mentioned that you've been in the assembly just a little over a year, say a little bit about the decision to now leave that seat. As long as you obviously go through with this campaign and being on the ballot for Congress, you are not going to be able to run for reelection here. So very quickly, putting that at risk, obviously with a lot of optimism that you win and go to Congress. But. But that's a big decision to make when you've just gotten to elected office. Say a little bit about that choice, and obviously that partly comes out of being what you've even described as sort of a movement candidate. With DSA coming with the DSA endorsement, you wouldn't, I assume, be running without it. So say a little bit about that choice and being sort of a movement candidate and what that means and what it means for trying to carry the sort of principles and vision of that movement forward.
- [29:50]
B
Yeah, absolutely. And it was not an easy decision by any means. I should say that I really love being in the assembly and I'm working on some things right now that I'm really excited about and hopeful to pass on to, you know, the person, whoever ends up succeeding me. But, you know, to your point, this is really about a movement. This isn't about me making a single decision. It's about a movement kind of carrying forward a vision. And so it was a big decision to make. But I do think now is a moment when the federal outlook looks very bleak. There are myriad crises facing us here in New York. 7 the affordability crisis, ICE as an institution, Trump's cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. And we need real Fighters in Washington. I've spoken at length about my experiences in organizing in uaw, but I do think at a moment when unions are incredibly popular in the United States and people are looking to the labor movement as a source of hope, very few people actually are able to organize their workplaces. There are all kinds of structural and legal barriers to doing that. And having a union organizer in Congress, I think would offer a perspective that is sorely missing and sorely needed. And so I certainly wouldn't be running for Congress without DSA, but also without my union. UAW Region 9A has endorsed me and was a huge driving force in making the decision to run in the first place. And I wouldn't be doing this without the support of my union and a kind of vision for what this office can do to support organized labor and people who haven't yet organized their workplaces. So, yeah, what does that mean to
- [31:39]
A
bring a labor organizer's sort of presence and lens and approach to, to Congress? How does that differ from someone who's isn't a labor organizer but is an elected official who has an eye towards, you know, coalition building and consensus building? What's, what's particularly special about being, having a labor organizer lens to things?
- [32:00]
B
So I think coming from the labor movement and coming from organizing in my shop, you know, we were able to, you know, organize across vast differences between co workers. I did not come from a particularly progressive unit by any means. It was a unit that was very mixed politically. And what united all of us is the need and desire for higher wages, for better childcare benefits, to protect the health care that we have. And so I think learning how to organize across differences in that way and really want to take on the boss. We are in a country that is very dominated by corporate power and corporate, corporate greed. And knowing how uniting kind of everyday workers together against that is what will win the day is really, is really important. And just knowing the kind of, again, the difficulties that exist in organizing your workplace, how truly grueling those drives can be, how difficult it is to, to win a first contract. I think all of those, those, all that knowledge is really essential when fighting for a fair, you know, federal labor policy that actually reflects working people and our need to win power.
- [33:24]
A
It strikes me that, you know, the root of some of this, of organizing, whether it's a labor union or in elected office, goes back to some of what we've already discussed about housing and other issues. And that's partly around, you know, sort of the need or the questions around compromise around Incrementalism. You know, DSA often is, again, you know, sort of, I don't know, caricatured as, you know, having more litmus tests and being more purists and ideological. Mayor Mamdani, again, turning some of that a little bit on its head at times, talking about, you know, taking wins and making progress and not being too purist on things. How do you, how do you think about that? How do you think about, you know, offering a sweeping vision but also potentially being incrementalist? Obviously, if you go to Congress and you're part of a Democratic House majority, you're almost certainly going to be working with a Republican Senate majority and a Republican president. Again, anything could happen on the Senate side, but that's obviously a much starker forecast for Democrats than the House side. You know, how do you think about incrementalism? How do you think about progress? How do you think about sort of taking a deal versus driving for the full loaf?
- [34:41]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think about power. You know, I think this is like the real question at the heart of the kind of like scenarios you've posed is how do we build power? And I think some of that requires painting a really broad vision for the world we actually deserve and understanding that it's going to take time to get there and it's going to take a series of steps to arrive there and really asking ourselves, what are we willing to do to achieve that goal? What kind of organizing are we willing to do? What are the tactics that are going to be required? Is it electing a socialist to Congress? Is it electing a democratic socialist mayor? And is it organizing our neighborhoods block by block? These are all questions about power and influence that I think, you know, within dsa, certainly we grapple with all the time. And there's no we grapple with these things all the time. It is DSA is itself a big tent organization. And I think one of the things that really brought me into to it is the very democratic nature of how we deliberate around our endorsements, how we strategize around where to put resources and time. And that is those are questions that I think most before joining dsa, I never really grappled with. And I think it's a really incredible exercise in democracy. And so, you know, when we talk about money in politics and not accepting real estate donations, not accepting corporate PAC donations or apac, those aren't questions about purity. They really are questions about power, about who is going to have influence over us as elected officials, as members of this movement. And we reject them and seek small dollar grassroots donations precisely because we want our campaigns to reflect exactly that energy and the movement that will hopefully win not just the seat but many more in the future.
- [36:38]
A
Two part question 1 is there one particular accomplishment in the State assembly that you want to point to that you had a very strong hand in? Obviously hard as a first year assembly member in a very large democratic conference to have a ton of individual influence always. But is there anything you particularly worked on most aggressively that you were able to get at least a version of through? And secondly, related to the prior question, are there, is there something maybe it's the same thing. Is there something else, though, that you compromised on, that you did, that you were willing to sort of take an incremental win on, in your view, or something along those lines, because you have to negotiate with the bigger conference in the assembly and then of course, with the state Senate and the governor as well?
- [37:27]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So I think I'm going to point to something that's very discreet, but I'm incredibly proud of early in 2025. So it was last year, early in 2025, Columbia student Mahmoud was kidnapped from his apartment building. And I and council member Alexa Aviles organized a letter that we got, you know, dozens of city, state and federal elected to sign on to condemning Mahmoud's abduction, calling on ice to get off campus and calling for his immediate release. And I'm proud of that letter and that statement because it was a moment when it was very easy to start off by condemning Mahmoud for exercising his free speech rights. It might have been very politically convenient to do that, but we were standing with him not only as a, a student at Columbia, as a person who absolutely has the right to speak out against injustice, but as a New Yorker, as one of our neighbors. And we came to his defense in a moment when few did. And I'm very proud of that work and that effort. I'm very proud that Mahoud is free, is with his family now and will continue to stand by him as the Trump administration continues to try to go after him for again exercising his exact rights and standing up against the genocide in Gaza. In terms of compromise, we compromise all the time. We pass these budgets and we don't always get the things that we want. I'll point to perhaps our fights around the New York Heat Act. Last year we were able to get rid of the 100 foot rule, but there's more work to be done, especially around climate at the state level. But we take wins when we can. And like I said before, I think sometimes what we're doing is really thinking about how we build power. And sometimes you take a small win because it shores up confidence in the process, because it shores up confidence in our ability to move things. And we take the demand for more into the next session and the fight continues.
- [39:47]
A
Your main opponent right now, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, so has indicated with me and other interviews that you share a lot of politics, the two of you, and also Council Member Julie Wan, who entered the race relatively recently, but that all three of you are very progressive, generally speaking, support just about all the same policies, would probably take just about all the same votes. But he says he's accomplished a lot more, has a real record of service and accomplishments, reform politics in Brooklyn, legislative efforts and the City Council things. As borough president, what do you say to that? And what do you say to this question of what really would differentiate you versus him in terms of whether one of you or the other was elected to Congress? How it would actually be different if it was you?
- [40:42]
B
For sure. And I think, you know, I've talked a lot about my. My time in my union, but it really is the thing that I bring. That I bring to this campaign and that I would bring to. That I brought to Albany and certainly would hope to bring to Washington as well. I have a track record of really standing alongside workers, not just in my union, but across. Across a lot of different industries. And I'm very proud of that. You know, I share the experience of so many people who are workers who struggle to pay rent, who, you know, struggle to get through their shift every day. And I think those experiences are needed in the halls of power, whether they're at the state level or at the federal level, in terms of differences. I spoke a little bit about my work around Mahmoud Khalil's abduction, but I have a really clear and consistent track record on speaking out against the genocide in Gaza and not just naming it as what exactly it is, as a genocide, a crime, but calling for a ceasefire very early on, calling for the end of US Aid to Israel and speaking out for Palestinian human rights. And I think that's one of the great moral questions of our time that we have been confronted with. And for the past two plus years, we've seen certainly federal inaction around really bringing this to an end and seen even federal support sending billions of dollars to Israel to bomb refugee camps to displace Palestinians in Gaza. And I think it's really incumbent on leaders to speak out against these things as they're happening. And so I'm very proud of the work that I've done there alongside, you know, Jewish Voice for Peace and many other organizations.
- [42:31]
A
And you see that as a difference between the two of you?
- [42:33]
B
I think that's a really essential difference. We've done a lot of work, you know, to do civil disobedience and organized alongside GVP for the Break the Bonds movement to call for the disinvestment or the continued disinvestment in Israel bonds here at the city level. There are a lot of different fronts to be fighting on. But I think it's a really essential difference to point out.
- [42:56]
A
And if people want to hear the borough president's take on that, it is something I asked him about as a criticism of him from his left and in this campaign, in our conversation. So if you were in Congress right now, what would you do on that issue? What would you try to insist on? What would be your preference in terms of there's something of a tentative ceasefire in place. You know, there's questions around the rebuilding of Gaza and who's going to lead it. There's questions around, of course, the future of Israel, a Palestinian state, a two state solution. You know, a lot, a lot of questions in the air, obviously. What would you be pushing for particularly and how would that be reflected specifically in this question of US Aid to Israel going forward?
- [43:50]
B
We should absolutely be conditioning aid to Israel and I would be a very early D1CO sponsor of the, the Block, block the Bombs Act. I think ultimately what we need to be doing is following the law, to follow international law and follow our own law. These, the Lahiy Law, the Foreign Assistance act, these things are already on the books. What we don't have is enforcement of them. And we shouldn't be sending aid to a country that's committing flagrant human rights violations, that's blocking aid to people who need it. I think that's really fundamental that, that what we need is real enforcement because right now Israel is breaking international law and the United States is breaking its own law by continuing to fund military action there. And so that is essentially what really needs to happen. And we need more people to be saying that very forcefully.
- [44:46]
A
What's your view on understanding Israel and supporters of Israel's ongoing focus on Israel's need to be able to defend itself from attacks from the outside, that it's often a target for attacks, whether it's from Iran or Hamas or elsewhere, that there's a premium in terms of focusing on US Support for Israel. Israel's need to defend itself. The, you know, sort of the ongoing existence of protecting Israel from outside attacks.
- [45:22]
B
I mean, I'll say again that we have U.S. laws that prohibit the assistance to countries that are committing human rights violations, and we need to stand by those laws. We shouldn't be directing aid to countries that again, are preventing Palestinians from seeking medical care, that have continued to bomb even beyond the ceasefire. Bomb refugee camps, kill Palestinians.
- [45:48]
A
Forgive me, I'm asking a slightly different question. Understanding your conditions on aid, let's just say in a world where those conditions are met. Do you, you have sort of sympathy for that other side of, of the argument from people who are more supportive of sending help to Israel that you sort of understand some of those risks and threats or how do you think about that? Forgive me, I'm sort of saying in a world where your conditions are met on, on aid. Yeah. Do you, do, do you have a viewpoint that is supportive of aid for Israel from the U.S. for even, you know, sort of. I know it's sometimes silly to think offensive weapons versus defensive weapons, but, you know, that is the language that's often used to discuss, you know, the support, at least for Israel to be able to, you know, quote, unquote, defend itself, Iron Dome and so forth.
- [46:38]
B
I'm certainly sympathetic to those arguments. I think we, we are, we don't live in a world, though, that in which Israel is not committing human rights violations in Gaza. And so I think, think it's, you know, we need to, to get there first before we can consider, you know, additional aid.
- [46:54]
A
Understood. Okay. In this district, you've had a lot of respect for Congresswoman Velasquez, who's retiring. At the same time, of course, she has endorsed Borough President Reynoso in this race to succeed her. She's expressed a bunch of frustration, most notably in an interview with the New York Times, that Mayor Mamdani came out to support you and is sort of not, I don't know, working with her or even stepping aside to let her kind of anoint her successor here? How do you view that? I know you've expressed nothing but respect for her. But so separate from that, though, how do you think about this idea that well respected longtime elected officials should or shouldn't be able to kind of choose a successor and have other politicians who don't have the same track record kind of pay those respects? What do you, what do you make of that? Those comments and that question?
- [47:55]
B
Democratic primaries are where we hash these things out. And I think it's always a good thing for democracy to have competitive elections and for how to have candidates take their, take their cases to the voters. That's exactly what we're doing in this race. I do have the world of respect for Congresswoman Velazquez. It is, I think, a rare opportunity to say that you have really, really been happy to be represented by a member of Congress. And she has been an incredible representative. We can point to all of her, all of her accomplishments and the work that she's done. And, and I, I do hope to carry on the legacy of work that she's done specifically around Puerto Rico, specifically around, you know, defending immigrants here in the district. District. But this is, yeah, this is what Democratic primaries are for. And I'm excited to keep the campaign going and, and make the case at the doors.
- [48:43]
A
That's what I was going to ask you next, is what if you were to go to Congress, what would be your approach to being a voice for Puerto Rico and what do you see as the path ahead for advocating for Puerto Rico and people who live in Puerto Rico and thoughts about Puerto Rico becoming a US State or what? Whatever your viewpoint is on both aggregate advocacy for Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans and the future of its status?
- [49:10]
B
Yeah, so Congresswoman Velazquez obviously carries the Status Act. I would certainly be hopeful to carry it as well. Ultimately, the decision for independence, statehood, status, the question of status really has to rest with Puerto Rico, with the people of Puerto Rico who right now are facing myriad challenges because they have, have, they are a colony. They do not have a representative of Congress. And so it's really incumbent on me or whoever wins the seat and really all of Congress to represent them as they do not yet have a voice. There are all kinds of challenges in Puerto Rico right now. The energy grid is very fragile, especially after Hurricane Maria. Energy and, and food. Many things are incredibly expensive because of things like the Jones act that make it more expensive to import commodities. You know, I know that we're, we're facing a Medicaid cliff in Puerto Rico too, in a couple of years because Medicaid is funded by a block grant that has to be renewed rather than the way that it is for any, for any state in the United States. And so lots of different problems facing the island that I would certainly want to continue. You know, the Congresswoman has done incredible work, obviously, coming from Puerto Rico, having deep, deep, deep ties to the island and standing up for it.
- [50:37]
A
And what is that path ahead for self determination? I mean, how do you map that out?
- [50:43]
B
I mean, so it really does have to, it has to come from the people of Puerto Rico. But Congress has a role to play in making sure that. That. That that opportunity exists and that it is free of influence, and that we can make that choice really, truly democratically available. And so there are plenty of challenges facing the island, as I said. And I think my role in Congress would be to make sure that I'm representing the voices on the island, the diaspora that lives here in New York as well, and making their voices heard in this.
- [51:19]
A
What do you make of congressional leadership right now for Democrats? Both chambers of Congress have minority leaders from Brooklyn, Hakeem Jeffries in the House, Chuck Schumer in the Senate. What do you make of their leadership and their fight back against Republican majorities there and the Republican president? Are you. If the. If you're part of the House delegation come January and Democrats have a majority, will you be supporting Hakeem Jeffries for speaker? What's your sort of broad take on Democratic leadership in Congress and your specific view of whether House Democrats and a majority should make Hakeem Jeffries the Speaker?
- [51:59]
B
Yeah, so I mostly, I hope that we are in a position in 2027 that we will be voting on a majority leader. I think that's the number one goal of the next year, is that we win back the House, that we flip as many seats as possible. And I think this is really a moment where, when dissatisfaction with the Republican Party, but also with the Democratic Party, is going to drive a lot of these races. I think in the election of Zoran Mamdani, we saw a real movement come together. Because they want a fighter, they want real leadership in these spaces. And I think Zoran was capable of pulling back voters who had even voted for Trump to come back to the Democratic Party because he was relentlessly focused on the question of affordability and what we need to do to make New York City affordable. I think that we'll see a lot of that energy throughout, honestly, throughout the country in 2026. I'm not prepared to say whether or not I would vote for Hakeem Jeffries. I think we need to get there first, and I hope that the energy that I expect to see, not just in this race, but also in many the other 2026 races, will inspire leadership to take more bold stances and really put working people back at the heart of the agenda.
- [53:21]
A
Is there someone in Congress right now who would be your ideal speaker of the House? I mean, is it Representative Ocasio Cortez? Is it somebody else in the House who you particularly think would be the strongest fighter.
- [53:33]
B
I think Representative Ocasio Cortez has been an incredible leader and I think a really effective communicator of the not only what's happening in Washington, but what's really needed to take on this administration. I wouldn't put her in the hot seat in that way without, you know, without her wanting to be so don't want to speculate on who would be a better candidate but have the world of respect for for Senator or for Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez.
- [54:05]
A
Do you want to see her run
- [54:05]
B
percent like Freudian slip. I think she would would excel at any office that she sought.
- [54:14]
A
Is she going to endorse your campaign? Are you actively in conversations around that? Obviously she has been a close ally of Congressman Velasquez who's supporting Antonio Reynoso. But she's also been aligned with DSA in many ways and of dsa. Where are those conversations and are you hopeful for an endorsement from her in a row race that who knows where this thing is going. You've got a couple of very formidable campaigns here and who knows what kind of impact Council Member Juan will have on the race. Are you actively working on that?
- [54:48]
B
I am very enthusiastically seeking the Congresswoman's endorsement. I was really proud to be endorsed by her in my assembly primary and would really hope to earn her support for this race as well. She is although she no longer represents Sunnyside, her memory resonates in the neighborhood and people, people in this district love her very much.
- [55:11]
A
So we're getting into our last few minutes here and appreciate all the time and thoughts. Assemblymember Claire Valdez running for Congress in New York's 7th congressional district, which includes parts of Queens and Brooklyn. So on that sort of path to victory, state of the race, you've got this very formidable force behind you in New York City DSA that you've helped build. You've got Mayor Mamdani, whose face on your palm cards is particularly helpful I'm sure in this district that just went heavily for him. Then you've got Borough President Reynoso, especially as a very strong candidate, borough wide official, lots of name recognition and work in especially the Brooklyn side of this district. District a little bit in Queens as well from his time in the City Council. How do you think about the sort of actual politics and the competing ground games here? You know, he's been involved in new Kings, Democrats and real on the ground efforts in Brooklyn. You know, sort of how do you capture the actual ground game competition and what it's going to take for your side to win.
- [56:17]
B
I mean, the ground game is going to be the thing. We had our field kickoff a couple weekends ago and in 20 degree weather, 20 people came out and knocked almost 6,000 doors. We've been running canvases since then, eight a week at this point, we've knocked on over 12,000 doors. So I think the ground game is going to be really essential. And we have a lot of people who, you know, beyond DSA who were energized by the mayor's campaign last year and are really hungry to get back involved in door knocking and talk to the neighbors about policy politics. I personally love canvassing. It's how I started my organizing in dsa. If you don't canvas out there, do it. It is incredibly humbling and grounding and will change your politics very quickly. And I think that's exactly where we're going. That's where the margin of victory is going to be. We have a lot of energy and excitement around our field operation and it will only grow. It's not even March.
- [57:16]
A
Where do you see the biggest hurdles? Where are the biggest challenges in this district for you? And building your name recognition, building your ability to reach voters that might be more typically, you know, Reynosa voters. I mean, obviously you'll have a little bit more of a leg up in your assembly district, but outside of that, is it, is it the areas of Brooklyn that he used to represent in the City Council? Those are obviously pretty strong DSA areas, at least in the mayoral race. But where do you see sort of your biggest challenges and areas of need in reaching primary voters in the on the ground game here in this election?
- [57:54]
B
Taking on a bigger seat always requires introducing yourself to new constituencies and new neighborhoods. And so that's always a challenge. But I think again, we have a really compelling and strong ground game and we're already knocking thousands of doors all over Brooklyn to get my little face on the palm card out. And I'm meeting with a lot of different community stakeholders and folks who have been doing organizing on the ground for years to make introductions and to tell them my vision for the district and, you know, talk about how I want to work alongside them and the work that they've already been doing. These communities are very well organized. That's the thing. People have been doing work against displacement and for safe streets and open space and you know, remediation in around the Newtown Creek for, you know, tens and tens of years. So we, there's lots of work to be done to introduce myself to new neighbors but also to learn from them. And I'm really excited to do that work. This is the fun part of campaigns.
- [58:56]
A
Last couple questions for you. You mentioned immigration as a really important issue and we don't really talk that much about it. So I want to come back to that in our last five minutes here. First, let me ask you, though, to continue on the politics side and then I want to get into your view on the sort of policy side. If you were to go to Congress, what you would really be pushing for in terms of reforms to immigration enforcement. I know you want to abolish ice, but beyond that, immigration enforcement, but also figuring out a path towards immigration reform. So I want to wrap on that. But first, on the politics side, Reynosa's got endorsements from, you know, make the Road Action and other organizations that do a lot of immigrant work in New York City, entities that that against almost probably any other opponent might be with you. What do you make of that? Do you consider that sort of a blow to your campaign, especially on this particularly key topic of immigrant advocacy? Obviously, endorsements mostly don't win races, although there's some that are bigger than others. But that seems to speak a little bit to sort of, again, some of these questions of background, resume, etc. What do you make of that on the, on the politics side of things? And then let's talk policy in our last couple minutes.
- [60:19]
B
Yeah, I mean, I, I consider make the Road and you know, cuff Action, like all of these organizations are our partners in the work that we continue to do. You know, at the state level, we're pushing for, for New York for all. We're pushing for dignity, not Detention for Representation Act. There's a lot of fight to be done and I would never discount an ally in any of the struggles that we have. And so I really appreciate all those organizations and look forward to fighting alongside them for the justice that our immigrant neighbors deserve and excited to work with them in the future, too. They are really valuable partners to me and there's no love lost by any means. We have a lot to do to fight for dignity at the state level right now.
- [61:10]
A
So on the policy side, what would the agenda be that you'd be pushing? You want to abolish ice? What's the other sort of reforms to either immigration enforcement or the immigration system itself that you'd be pushing for?
- [61:26]
B
Yeah. So obviously abolishing ICE is the number one, the number one goal here. And it's a good thing that there is now a growing consensus that this is the track that we need to take that this is an agency that simply cannot be reformed and that's only been around since 2003. I am older than ice. We need to abolish it. We need to stop terrorizing our neighbors. We need to make sure that our communities can stay whole and that if you're an immigrant in New York, that you feel safe to continue on your life and pursue citizenship. I have talked to school principals around the district who tell me stories about families self deporting, who tell me stories about, you know, kids not coming to school either because they're afraid of being picked up by ICE or because they're having to work where their parents are afraid to leave the house. It's a travesty and it shouldn't be this way. The billions and billions of dollars that we spend funding this agency should be going back to our communities to, to make them whole, to fund our schools, our hospitals, housing. The list goes on. In terms of what we can win if we get rid of this agency that has just been terrorizing our neighbors. We need real humane pathways to citizenship. We need to make this a humane system that allows people to seek citizenship if they want it. And we have to get rid of this agency that has now been militarized to the hilt and has murdered U.S. citizens in broad daylight, but has also been responsible for the deaths of, of, of dozens of, of immigrants in detention centers around the country.
- [63:03]
A
And just finally on that, going back to this question of compromise and you know, reform and what you'd be willing to take again, Democratic House, Republican Senate insisting on reforms to ice, but Republicans are not willing to budge on abolishing ice. What would be, what would be acceptable to you right now or if you were there in terms of reforms that you'd be willing to take. Take for, you know, an agreement again to refund dhs. I know you know, ICE already has plenty of funding, but you know, this conversation that's going on right now around funding for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE reforms and so forth, what would be your bar for accepting a compromise there? That is not that full vision you just laid out. And then we'll say goodbye.
- [63:46]
B
The North Star, of course, has to be abolishing ice. So every step that we can take toward getting there is, is, is a small win, but still so, so insufficient. And so, you know, reducing funding is a step. Removing masks from agents is a step. We need real accountability too. These, some of these agents have caused immense, unbelievable harm in our communities to, directly to families have again been responsible for deaths. We need real accountability in these agencies. And so there are a few kind of like intermediate steps again, reducing funding, getting rid of the masks. But we really, we really must abolish ice.
- [64:27]
A
Well, we will leave it there. Assembly Claire Valdez, Democratic candidate running in the primary for New York's 7th congressional district. Parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Folks can look up the district map. I won't go through all the neighborhoods again, but primary coming up fast in June. So thanks for all the time and thoughts here. Best of luck on the campaign trail and stay in touch. Touch.
- [64:46]
B
Thanks so much, Ben. Thanks for the time.
- [64:48]
A
Be well, Sam.